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SLRG research fellow Kate Burningham to present her research findings at SCI Manchester, 29 April
Lifecourse transitions are often accompanied by changes in household economy, leisure practices and social networks and characterised as times of reflection on identity and lifestyle. For policy makers interested in encouraging healthy or sustainable consumption such periods might be thought to provide ‘windows of opportunity’ in which to deliver interventions... more

Kate Burningham and Andy Stirling to lead plenary session at BSA Annual Conference, 16 April 2015

Various forms of transition and transformation will be required to move towards a lower carbon society. This panel session, organised by the BSA climate change study group, takes stock of relevant sociological concepts of stability and change at different scales: across an individual’s life course, in terms of the social practices of which daily lives are made, and in the political and scientific processes through which responses to climate change are defined and organised...Read more

Understanding human behavior lies at the heart of responses to climate change. From a social psychological perspective, ‘habit’ is studied as an intra-individual psychological construct that sustains ingrained behavior patterns in stable settings and obstructs adoption of more environmentally friendly alternatives. Sociologists from the social practice tradition, in contrast, have sought to highlight the ways in which resource-intensive ‘habitual practices’ become established and maintained in society through a commingling of material, procedural, and socio-discursive elements.

This new study estimates the combined direct and indirect rebound effects from various types of energy efficiency improvement by UK households. In contrast to most studies of this topic, Mona Chitnis and Steve Sorrell base their estimates on cross-price elasticities and therefore capture both the income and substitution effects of energy efficiency improvements.

Tim Jackson joins advisory board of ambitious new Aldersgate Group coalition
The Aldersgate Group has launched an ambitious new campaign to set out a new macro-economic roadmap for the UK - for #AnEconomyThatWorks. Tim Jackson is joining the coalition in an advisory capacity.

Rachael Durrant to present her SLRG findings at Food Research Collaboration Event, London 10 December

Civil society organisations (CSO’s) in the UK are widely engaged in attempts to make food systems greener, fairer and healthier, but are often conspicuously absent in policy discussions and strategic planning about food security and sustainability. In this seminar, SLRG fellow Rachael Durrant will draw attention to this disconnection and provide evidence of the mechanisms through which CSOs already drive change...read more

Ian Christie will lead a session at this year’s Christian Ecology Link Annual Meeting, allowing members the opportunity to engage with the findings from SLRG’s 4 year programme of research. Ian will present some of the lessons learnt, including those on community innovation and catalysts for personal action. The workshop will aim to explore what these lessons mean for the individual, for the green movement, for Churches, and for CEL's own action for a greener Church.

In her latest investigation, French journalist and accomplished film-maker Marie-Monique Robin questions the dogma of growth and investigates social and economic alternatives: community-based and environmentally conscious models are on the rise and seem to prepare much better for emerging problems such as climate change, resource scarcities and financial crises...Read more

SLRG research fellow Dr Rachael Durrant to present research findings at Cardiff University, 19 November 2014

The Future of our Food is a major new seminar series funded by the UK Economic and Social Sciences Research Council. It will bring people together to jointly explore emerging challenges in agriculture and food in the UK and globally. Each seminar will explore themes of resilience, sustainability, nutritional security, public health, well-being and justice in the food system...Read more.

Will improved energy efficiency lead to increased energy consumption in the developing world? Quite possibly says Steve Sorrell. The BTI report was publicised in a New York Times op-ed, leading to various follow-up blogs and a flurry of activity on Twitter. A similar response greeted at an earlier BTI report on rebound effects which found: “…a large expert consensus and strong evidence that below-cost energy efficiency measures drive a rebound in energy consumption that erodes much and in some cases all of the expected energy savings.” Both reports brought welcome media attention to this important subject, but the intensity of the ensuing debate demonstrates that a consensus on the importance of rebound remains elusive....Read more